The ball Diego Maradona used to make history in 1986 is going up for auction. More than $10 million is expected – and a new record.
Four minutes at the Estadio Azteca were enough to make this ball immortal. Diego Maradona used it to punch the "Hand of God" into the net in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England, then dribbled through half the English team with the very same ball for the "Goal of the Century". Now this piece of football history goes under the hammer once again, and could set a new record.
Maradona's "Hand of God" ball: auction opens at $2.5 million
Texas-based Heritage Auctions will sell the ball online from August 21 to 23, with bidding starting at $2.5 million. Far more is expected: Heritage anticipates an eight-figure sum, with over $10 million in the conversation. "I think it's easily the most historic ball in the realm of soccer," says Dan Imler, the auction house's vice president of sports, speaking to news agency AFP.
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Should the ball clear the $10 million mark, it would become the most expensive piece of football memorabilia of all time. The record is currently held by Maradona's shirt from the very same match, sold for $9.3 million in 2022, a story we've told here.
Kept by the referee: the story of Maradona's 1986 World Cup ball
That the Hand of God and the Goal of the Century came off the same ball is, by the way, guaranteed: there was no multiball system in 1986, and the white adidas Azteca, its design inspired by the architecture and murals of the Aztec civilisation, stayed in play for the full 90 minutes.
After the final whistle, the ball was claimed by Ali Bin Nasser of all people, the Tunisian referee who had missed the handball. He later explained he couldn't see the incident clearly and that his linesman had signalled the goal was valid. Bin Nasser kept the ball for 36 years before putting it up for auction in London in 2022: an anonymous buyer paid around $2.4 million.
Four years on, the next sale is coming up, with roughly four times the price expectation. Whoever bought the ball in 2022 can look forward to quite the return on investment.
